


FuzzyBareIntimate

by ReidFan



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-15 06:50:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16057787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReidFan/pseuds/ReidFan
Summary: Garcia finds a way to cope when her man is away, and Reid discovers how much fun a relationship can be.





	1. Chapter 1

FuzzyBareIntimate

A Criminal Minds Fanfic

Reid/Garcia

T+

©mccabebabe (Reidfan)

Garcia finds a way to cope when her man is away, and Reid discovers how much fun a relationship can be.

Thank you to Aut: for putting up with Canadian spelling, the early morning and late night 'what do I do now?' and for letting me pair Reid with Garcia.

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" _Love is not something you go out and look for. Love finds you, and when it does, ready or not, it'll be the best thing to ever happen to you_ _ **."-**_ **Ash Sweeney**

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"We have a case, Garcia. Get everyone together in the conference room please!" BAU Unit Chief Emily Prentiss called out to the ebullient tech analyst. Penelope Garcia was sitting on the desk of one of the BAU's agents, SSA Jennifer Jareau, and the two women were discussing their plans for the upcoming weekend.

JJ was in the midst of outlining her family's plans for a weekend of togetherness. Her husband, Will LaMontagne, had the entire weekend off—a rarity in their household—and they, along with their two sons, were excited at the prospect of visiting a petting zoo together.

Five minutes later, seven of the team's eight members were seated around the table in the conference room, files in hand as Garcia presented the case. Agent Matt Simmons was away on a secondary assignment. The other team members spent several minutes tossing around ideas and theories and then Prentiss rose.

"All right then, we're going to Los Angeles. Wheels up in thirty," and with that, their leader strode out of the room and headed to her office to finalise arrangements for the team's travel.

The members dispersed to collect go bags and notify family members about their impending departure. Alvez called his dog sitter, JJ called her husband.

"I hope we have it solved by Friday, Will. I don't wanna miss the baby goats either!"

Rossi disappeared into his office to make a couple of calls and Lewis headed down to the ladies' locker room to retrieve her go bag.

Penelope made her way back to her office, chest heaving and close to tears. "Breathe, breathe," she told herself repeatedly, chanting it like a mantra quietly to herself. She reached the door, wrenched it open and quickly made her way to her desk. Plopping down on the chair, she promptly burst into tears and reached for her little stuffed bear.

"FuzzyBareIntimate," she whispered, cuddling the little toy against her. The small bear had been her constant companion since her rescue from the hands of the Believers several weeks earlier. A gift from co-kidnap victim Spencer Reid, the bear was a source of comfort for Garcia. He traveled back and forth to work with her every day. FBI, as she called him, had taken on a whole new significance in recent days, as Penelope had finally come to realise—and admit to him—the depth of her feelings for Spencer Reid. Whenever Reid and the team were away overnight on a case, FuzzyBareIntimate spent the night in Garcia's bed, comforting her and reassuring her that Reid was safe.

She heard footsteps and the click of her office door locking shut. Swiping quickly at her eyes, she set FBI down on the desk and rose.

"PG, you all right?" Reid asked in a low voice as he took the four steps necessary to cross the office and sweep her into his arms. She slid her hands up his back until they reached his head and then she twined her fingers through his hair and kissed him hungrily. He returned her fervour, drawing her tightly against his chest and then lifting her up. His hands cupped her bottom as he moved them both to her desk. He deposited her onto the desktop and stepped as close to her as he could, their bodies melding together. Penelope groaned her pleasure as their passion grew, fueled by the heat of their closeness. Reluctantly, a minute or so later, Reid backed away. Raining kisses on her hair, he told her,

"Gotta go, wheels up in," he paused to look at his watch, "Dammit! Fifteen minutes." He tipped her face up to kiss her lips and reassured her, "I'll be safe, I promise you, I'll be careful. And we'll be back soon enough."

She traced his lips with her fingers and then reached up and kissed him once more. "I love you," she whispered, and before he could reciprocate, she continued, "Oh! That reminds me!" She leaned over and grabbed her purse from beside her computer and dug through it, extracting an iPhone. Clicking it on, she quickly centered Reid's face in the viewer and then leaned into him to kiss him and clicked the button on the phone to take a photo.

"Here," she said, handing it to him, a photo of the two of them kissing was now the lock screen picture.

"I have a phone, Pen," he reminded her, puzzled.

"Yes, but _everybody_ has that phone number. This one," she tapped the phone she'd just given him, "Is _our_ secret one. When I wanna talk to just you, my secret love, I'll call you on this."

His eyebrows rose in surprise and delight.

"It's already programmed with my number, My Sweet, and I put a number of other, um, surprises, on there for your, um, perusal."

He bit his lower lip, quickly stowed the phone in a pocket and then gathered her in his arms again. "I _really_ have to get going, Pen. And I love you, too."

She squeezed his hand as he turned to leave, and he leaned back to kiss her once again before letting go of her hand and opening the office door.

"Stay safe, my love," she whispered as he raced to his desk, grabbed his go bag and headed for the elevator.

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"And Dave, you and Spence talk to the M-E. I'll set up at the police station," Prentiss finished giving them their assignments. Their flight was a long one; it would be almost six hours by the time they arrived in Los Angeles, well after two p.m. back in DC. Prentiss texted Garcia and requested some searches. After some discussion about Victimology and possible motives, the team settled in for naps to pass the rest of the flight time.

Garcia spent the afternoon diving deep into the lives of the three victims: an aspiring actress, a talent agent and a golf club employee. By the time the team landed, she had already determined there was no obvious connection between the three.

"So, I guess we'll look for the not so obvious," she told FBI who sat next to her keyboard beside the now almost empty octopus mug. She gave the bear an affectionate pat on the head and turned her attention back to her keyboard. Inputting more parameters, she sat back and waited for the computer to do its work. After sipping the last of her tea, she put the mug back on the desktop and moved to pick up FuzzyBareIntimate. The toy slipped from her hand and she quickly grabbed at him with her other hand and felt something hard in its belly. Poking at the spot, Penelope was startled to hear,

" _I love you_." It was Spencer's voice.

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The team reassembled at the downtown Los Angeles precinct and shared their findings. Garcia had provided them with extensive research into their initial three victims as well as another who had surfaced while the team was en route to California.

Her phone pinged to inform her a text message had arrived and Garcia stopped inputting at the computer keyboard long enough to take the phone from its cradle to read the message from Prentiss.

_Much progress made, thanx! We're calling it a night soon. You should too. Be back in office at 11 am your time._

Garcia smiled. _Emily was always so conscientious about time zone differences_ , she thought. Penelope giggled, _Probably from when she lived in England and I was texting her at all those ungodly hours!_

She sent the latest research she'd uncovered to the team's tablets then replied to Emily's text.

_Heading home now, thanx! Ring if u need anything._

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"We'll go back at it fresh it the morning, guys," Prentiss closed the folder in her hands and tossed it onto the tabletop. "Let's go for dinner," she suggested to the group assembled around the table.

Rossi, Lewis and Alvez who all started Googling area restaurants met her announcement enthusiastically. JJ noticed the faraway look in Reid's eyes and leaned in to speak in a low voice.

"You okay, Spence?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks," he said distractedly. Rising from his chair, he tapped Emily on the arm and asked, "Would you mind if I passed on dinner? I'd uh, rather just go to my room if that's okay. I'm, uh, tired."

Her brow furrowed. "Sure it's okay, Spencer. Are you okay?"

He nodded and confided, "I just, I need to call—"

"Oh," Emily nodded. "Gotcha," she whispered back to him, "Go on, I'll cover for you with them."

He smiled gratefully, grabbed his suit jacket and left the room. JJ stared after him and gestured, addressing Prentiss, "What's with him?"

Prentiss shrugged, "Guess he's just not used to being back on the long days again yet. Just got back from his thirty, JJ." She tried to sound dismissive and segued to the entire group, "So, where we going for dinner?"

Rossi told her, " _The Republic_ , I think."

"Great, listen, Dave, send my phone the directions, okay? I'll meet you there," Prentiss grabbed her jacket and waved past them, hurrying to catch up to Reid.

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She shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, wrapping herself in a fluffy towel. "That didn't help at all," Penelope lamented aloud as she wandered back into the bedroom. "I just miss you _more,"_ she complained.

Sitting on the bed, she finished drying off and slipped into her pajamas. She picked FBI up off the bed and squeezed his belly.

" _I love you,"_ floated through the air and she gave the bear an affectionate pat then laid him reverently down on the pillow next to her own. Since discovering the little sound module in FBI's tummy earlier, Penelope had pressed and listened to it countless times. She smiled as she thought about the ramifications. _Spencer was not nearly as phobic or as unknowledgeable about this kind of technology as he let on._ It reminded her of the time, years ago, he'd programmed Derek Morgan's phone to emit screaming instead of music. Penelope laughed at that memory and pushed FBI's belly again.

" _I love you,"_ drifted through the air once again and Penelope whispered, "I love you too" in reply. Sighing, she rose and returned to the bathroom to brush her teeth and dry her hair. After hanging up the towel, she walked back into the bedroom and climbed onto her side of the bed. Laying flat on her back, she spent several long moments just staring at the ceiling, FBI clutched tightly in her arms.

It wasn't good enough, she decided. Turning to face the empty half of the bed, she pulled Spencer's pillow in against herself, set FuzzyBareIntimate on it and then hugged both tightly and eventually fell asleep.

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"Hey Reid! Spence! Wait up!" Prentiss called as she hurried to catch up to him.

He stopped immediately and waited for her. The two of them left the police building together, walking out in the hot California sun to the precinct parking lot to their fleet SUV.

"I was just gonna give you a lift to the hotel, Brainiac, before I meet the others for dinner."

"Thanks, Emily, I appreciate that," he smiled in return. They made their way to the car and as they climbed into it, Spencer cleared his throat and addressed Emily again. "I, uh, appreciate that you haven't told the team about Penelope and me."

"It's not my news to tell, Spencer," she told him. "Although to be honest, it's absolutely killing me," she laughed as she quickly maneuvered their vehicle out onto the Los Angeles street.

"I'm kinda surprised none of them have figured it out yet."

"Well, you've been away on the thirty, Spence. It was easy then. Penelope was all business—well as all business as Penelope ever is I mean—at work around just the others. And now that you're back, it's bound to come out. You know Garcia will be all mopey and worried again. They might not see it right away but there'll be a pattern," she paused as another thought occurred to her, "OH, I almost forgot. And dammit, I _did_ wanna bring it up with you in front of the others! Congratulations, Spence! I got the memo from Agent Lawrence."

A wide smile spread across Reid's face, "Thanks!"

"Not sure Garcia will be quite as excited about it as you are. As we all will be. But I was so happy to see they've decided the thirty rotation isn't necessary anymore. That's just awesome news."

"You haven't told the team yet?"

"No. Again. It's not my news to tell."

"It's okay, Emily. Go ahead and tell them at dinner tonight."

"About you and Penelope?" she teased.

"No!" he replied quickly, before realising she was kidding.

"No, no. That news can wait until you're there." She pulled up in front of their hotel and waved Reid out. "See you at breakfast in the morning!"

He waved back at her, "Thanks for the ride," and turning, stepped into the cool air conditioning of the hotel lobby.

Stopping at the hotel restaurant, Reid bought a salad and a roast beef sandwich for dinner, which he took upstairs. Once in his room, Spencer divested himself of his suit jacket and tie.

He pulled both his phones from his pockets, checked the 'work' one for messages. Quickly, he read through them, ascertaining they were mostly discussion about dinner and speculation about his absence and he laughed and set the phone down on the night table.

"I'll deal with you jokers later," he promised. He ate his dinner and turned his attention to his new phone. Clicking it on, he smiled at the photo of himself and Penelope kissing, and then swiped through to the messages app.

_Got your go bag? Check inside._

His eyebrows rose and he hurriedly finished the sandwich. He reached across the bed to where he'd tossed the go bag. Unclasping it, he opened it and rummaged through it, finding everything he'd expected to find—his usual two changes of clothes, underwear, socks, pajamas and an empty bag in which he'd be putting dirty laundry. He found his toiletries bag, opened it to reveal his toothbrush, contact lens container and solutions, hairbrush and oft-ignored razor. Setting that aside, he lifted his clothes out of the bag and found a small paper bag between the shirts and sweater vest.

"What's this?" he wondered aloud. He opened the bag and gasped in surprise and delight. Neatly folded inside was one of Penelope's brassieres, a pretty red and black number he'd previously admired on her.

"Oh my, you crazy woman," he exclaimed, holding the garment up in front of his eyes. He visualized Penelope wearing it and his mouth went dry. He touched the bra reverently, a wistful sigh escaping his lips. _Was this the sweetest gesture ever? Or perhaps the most evil?_ He couldn't decide.

 _You're just full of surprises aren't you?_ He messaged back to her.

He waited for several minutes but there was no reply. _Of course not,_ he reasoned. _It's almost midnight in DC._ He checked the timestamp on her message and noted it had been sent that morning, probably before she'd even given him the phone.

It was as good a time as any, he decided, to see what else this phone encompassed. "Pen did say there were some other surprises in store," he remembered her earlier promise—or warning—he laughed. He investigated and found the photos folder; opened it and "awwww" escaped his lips. She'd included a collection of photos for him to meander through: Penelope with Lou, the puppy Alvez had given to a friend; Spencer's favourite photo of Penelope with Sergio; a few images of the entire team together and another folder inside the folder labeled _Alone Time, Top Secret._ Steeling himself, he opened that folder and broke into a wide smile.


	2. Chapter 2

He'd obviously been asleep at the time, but Penelope had managed to capture a number of photos of the two of them lying together in bed. She was curled up against him, her head resting on his bare chest. His eyes were shut, his mouth slightly open, hair splayed out all around his head resting on the pillow. One particular photo showed her hand slipping beneath the blanket at his waist while the other was obviously holding the smartphone taking the picture. This photo was artfully labeled _Fuzzy Bare Intimate the Original_ and Reid laughed. "I thought he was called Fuzzy _B-e-a-r_ Intimate," he said aloud. "I guess I better check on that." He smiled yearningly as he swiped through the remaining photos in the folder, revisiting meals they'd made together, TV they'd watched together, walks they'd gone on and at the end of the folder was another folder. This one was marked " _Top, Top, TOP Secret."_

"Uh oh," he said aloud although part of him awakened, stirring with desire as he took a deep breath and opened the folder. _More photos. Of a risqué nature,_ he bit his tongue at the sight of the two of them together. _In the shower_! _How the hell did she manage to take this picture?_ he wondered. Both her hands were visible in the picture. _Well, sort of,_ he amended. _One was on his shoulder, the other was_ —he inhaled sharply as a wave of lustfulness threatened to overtake his other senses.

He swiped back to the phone's main menu. Now was definitely _not_ the time to be going through those photographs, he decided. He hurried to the bathroom, splashed cold water on his face and walked back to the bed, pointedly ignoring his secret phone. Instead, he picked up his messenger bag and retrieved the files for their current case.

Sipping occasionally from a glass of water, Reid reviewed all the files, making notes and setting himself a reminder to ask Garcia about their victims' online lives in the morning.

" _There's gotta be a connection somewhere. Something they all do, some place they all go, someone they all know,"_ he mused aloud. He spent another hour thinking about the case and finally decided sleep was necessary.

Reid climbed into bed, pulling his go bag close. Taking the paper bag from it, he smiled again as he removed Penelope's gift from within it. Spencer settled down into the bed, arranged his pillows to his liking and closed his eyes, clutching Penelope's bra close.

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The team was already gathered around a hotel restaurant table when Reid awoke the following morning.

Taking note of the time, he swore and quickly rose. "Dammit!" he exclaimed. Hastily, he sent Garcia a text on the work phone and then clambered into the shower. Fifteen minutes later, he was in the elevator on the way down to breakfast, where the rest of the team was already enjoying their second or third cups of coffee.

As he hurried into the restaurant, he heard the telltale pinging sounds of both his phones indicating messages received. He sat down at the table just as the waitress arrived with eggs, bacon and toast for him. Coffee cups were filled all around the table and then the waitress left them.

"Late night?" JJ teased.

"I slept in," he offered, "Sorry I'm late."

"We ordered for you," Prentiss indicated, gesturing at his plate with one hand.

"Thanks," he replied, hurriedly setting about scarfing down his food.

"Oh, _don't_ , Spence. Don't wolf it down like that." JJ went into mom mode, "You'll just make yourself sick."

The others laughed but agreed, nursing their coffees slowly to allow Reid to catch up to them.

Forty-five minutes later, they arrived in two vehicles at the police precinct and regrouped in the conference room where they'd set up. Rossi was on his cellphone as they arrived. Reid had a takeout coffee in one hand and was reading through all his text messages as they arrived. He reviewed the enormous amount of information Garcia had sent him in response to his earlier texts.

"We'll review the case and our geographic profile in a sec, first I wanted to let everyone know," Prentiss began and everyone quieted down to listen to her. "I got notification last night from Agent Lawrence and the review committee. And, good news for all of us, they've decided to discontinue the one hundred in, thirty out rotation for Dr. Reid."

A chorus of cheers erupted and Emily gave them a moment to congratulate their colleague and then she patted him on the back herself, "Welcome back, Spence."

She smiled and then made a face; "There's also this bit of news though. Apparently, the Bureau really liked the job Reid did teaching those courses and seminars. It's good PR for them, it's obviously beneficial for the criminology students, and it's a nice diversion for us. Yeah, you heard right. _Us_. The Bureau would like, in addition to the cases we consult on and actively investigate in the field, each of us to consider teaching a few seminars a year. But we'll discuss that further back in DC. Right now, I believe, Spencer, you have some info for us?"

He waved his work phone in one hand and shared, "I texted Garcia last night and asked her to check into the victims' online lives. It was difficult for her because none of them use their real names; even in their email addresses and it took some digging into ISPs and stuff for Pen to find them. But she did."

Reid motioned to Prentiss to boot up her tablet and the others all followed suit. They opened the newest files sent by Garcia as Reid continued. "They don't know each other in real life, as it were. But they did know each other on line, by their screen names. They're all involved in file sharing in what Garcia called the not-quite-dark world."

Alvez looked around the table and when no one else asked, voiced his question. "What exactly?"

Reid explained, "First run movies, TV shows not aired in the requester's area, bootlegs from concerts, etc. The kind of stuff that's copyrighted, but not as widely disparaged as say, child porn or snuff."

Prentiss continued, "The three victims were all interested in a particular file from someone in this group. Garcia traced the group owner to an ISP in Philadelphia. But they use proxies and to anyone with less computer knowledge than Garcia, the site is untraceable. Payments are usually made in bitcoin, so it's also pretty much untraceable."

"Our three initial victims, and a fourth one Pen was made aware of yesterday, all requested one particular file."

They swiped through and noted the file in question was a bootleg concert video for a music group with whom none of them was familiar. _"Science Affliction,_ " Lewis mused aloud.

"I had PG pose as a fan wanting it," Reid continued. "She put out the request on their forum. The group mod messaged her and told her he'd taken it down, it was no longer available."

They looked at one another and JJ asked, "But that doesn't stop Garcia?"

Reid shook his head, "Of course not," he smiled, "Penelope asked him if there was some other way to get a copy. And of course, she was able to hack through and get it anyway, but he put her in touch with the original poster."

Prentiss picked up the narrative, "Each of our victims was found dead—strangled and dumped—within hours of arranging to meet this guy Baltazar about this particular bootleg. Garcia managed to find the correspondence between this Baltazar and our agent and actress victims. Both were instructed to bring one hundred dollars in cash to specified locations. Those locations were Internet cafés near where the bodies were found."

"But none of the victims' devices actually have that video on them," Alvez pointed out, referring to the notes on his own tablet.

"He killed them before completing the transaction?" JJ asked.

"Or he deleted it from their phones or tablets," Rossi replied.

"Why? Why go to all that trouble?" Alvez wanted to know.

"It is a bizarre M-O," Prentiss agreed.

"So. Who _is_ this Baltazar guy?" Lewis asked.

"Baltazar was the antagonist in an animated episode of the _Dr. Who_ television series," Reid answered her. "He was a space pirate brought down eventually by the Tenth Doctor. Our unsub seems to be fashioning himself after the character. Garcia says his real name is Evan Oster, and he's worked as a roadie for various musical groups, most recently for _Science Affliction_. We have an address for him here in Los Angeles, but," he paused and deferred to Emily.

"Local LE went out to bring him in this morning, and the address turned out to be an empty lot. But we've got a photo of him, thanks to Garcia going through surveillance tapes at the second victim's coffee shop meeting with him."

The photo winked onscreen on their tablets. He was a heavily tattooed and pierced Caucasian male in his late twenties.

"I wonder _why_ he wants to kill people asking for this file," Lewis pointed out. "It's like he's regretting ever offering it for sale in the first pla—" she trailed off.

Alvez piped up, "Maybe the band is threatening legal action? If they somehow found out who leaked it, who's profiting?"

"That's a valid observation, Alvez," Rossi praised. "I know I'd be unhappy to find pirated versions of my books out there," he thumped the desk with one hand and added, "Although I'm sure they're out there."

"This band isn't all that well known, they'd be burned for royalties with someone was selling a concert video online like this," JJ contributed.

"They could go after him through legal channels, though," Lewis told them.

"True, but he might be covering. Trying to make it look like someone else is really behind it."

"Or maybe he's trying to recover any copies that are out there? Did Garcia say how many buyers there were?" Rossi asked.

"According to her digging, it was never actually uploaded to the site. Baltazar offered it but any prospective buyers were instructed to message him directly to make purchase arrangements." Prentiss replied. "We know who four of them were," she waved at their board, indicating the four murder victims, "and there are two more, including our Fourth Doctor. The other would-be purchaser decided against it after the first two murders occurred, guess he got scared off. But according to Garcia, he only offers it locally, to people he can arrange to meet to complete the transaction. Pen says there were nine other requests made for it, but they were all out of the LA area and Baltazar either dismissed them altogether or told them he'd make future arrangements."

"So he's offering up this video on their secret group. He sells it to a few people. Maybe the artists get wind of this and figure out who did it. They threaten him with legal action, or he figures he might be threatened and decides he needs to recover the files," Alvez theorised.

"I talked to the leader of _Science Affliction,"_ Rossi told him, "They know this kind of thing happens all the time, it's an occupational hazard. They don't _like_ it, but they understand it happens. Although they didn't know about this particular seller until I made them aware."

"So, he's offering it up for sale to make some bucks on the side, but kills his buyers after the transaction," JJ pondered aloud. "And probably taking back the files."

"We should have all our answers soon. Garcia sent a request to his user account, she's just waiting for a reply now," Prentiss told them.

"And then FourthDoctor will meet him for a copy of this file," Reid told them.

"Fourth Doctor?" JJ asked.

Reid smiled. "Me," he paused, and thinking about Penelope and the promise he'd made to her added, "And the appropriate amount of backup."

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A few hours later, Garcia called the team. "Baltazar has contacted me!" she said excitedly, eager to help the team apprehend the serial killer.

"Uh oh," Prentiss whispered to Reid who was standing next to her. Taking his arm, she moved them both out of range of the tablet so that Garcia wouldn't see them.

"You haven't told her just who's meeting him, have you?"

Prentiss accused him.

He sighed, "Emily. Please. I'm not sitting on the sidelines."

"I know, Spence. I don't expect you to. I'm just saying, you know how she's gonna—"

JJ came up beside them, "We're ready, Emily." She, Rossi and Lewis were all in their Kevlars, JJ had tied up her hair and all were set, weapons checked. "PG just wants to know what to say to him."

Prentiss exchanged a significant glance with Reid, took a deep breath and then stood in front of her tablet.

"Where and when, Garcia?"

Garcia's eyes narrowed. She took in the sight of JJ in her Kevlar and tied back hair. She noted Prentiss had _not_ prepared to be out in the field. She saw Reid standing beside Prentiss, also without a Kevlar and she let out a relieved sigh.

"He's expecting to meet FourthDoctor at _Starbucks_ at noon. I sent you the coordinates. Um, Emily?"

"Uh oh," Prentiss said under her breath, deliberately facing away from the tablet's camera. Turning back to face Garcia, Emily asked "What's up, P?"

"Emily, what's the, um, plan?"

"The plan, Garcia, is to have an agent pose as the fourth doctor to thwart the unsub's plan to kill anyone else who wants this bootleg file." She drew a breath and before Garcia could voice any objections, continued, "A well trained agent with full backup who has every intention of succeeding in this venture."

Prentiss hoped that came across with an air of finality. She turned, picked up her own Kevlar and addressed everyone, "Let's go."

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The waiting was killing her. FuzzyBareIntimate was the recipient of countless tummy squeezes as Garcia fretted and worried.

He had backup. They said he had backup. He'd _promised_ her he'd be careful. She bit her nails. Or rather, she tried to; there was nothing left of them. FBI got another squeeze.

 _"I love you"_ sounded through her office again.

" _You have to trust me,"_ pulsed through her mind like a sound byte on indefinite repeat. " _I do, I trust you. I love you",_ she said over and over again, willing herself to believe it.

FBI sat patiently on the desktop and Garcia reached for him yet again.

 _"I love you_ " sounded out again.

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	3. Chapter 3

He stepped as casually as he could through the front door of the _Starbucks_ and approached the barista, ordering a _Bold of the Day Venti_ for himself and, as instructed, a _Pikes Venti_ for Baltazar _._ Standing aside as she took others' orders, Reid picked out several sugar packets and waited for his order to be filled. A few minutes later, he heard the barista call out "Two _Venti_ for the Fourth Doctor" and he stepped up to the counter to retrieve his drinks.

Stirring the sugar into his coffee, Reid glanced around the restaurant. Rossi was sitting at a table right by the front door, appearing deeply engrossed in his Cappuccino.

Reid knew that outside the store, JJ was parked in a nondescript vehicle, ready to follow his every move. Alvez, carrying a few bags, was undercover as a shopper and waiting across the road by an alley. Lewis and Prentiss were also standing by, somewhere further up the street and several undercover Los Angeles officers were also at the ready.

As he stirred his coffee, he looked around again. Several office workers were convened around one table, obviously having a staff meeting. Other customers came and went, and after a few minutes, Reid noted the arrival of the tattooed and pierced man he knew to be Evan Oster. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and a sport jacket, which had the sleeves pushed back. A scarf hanging loosely over his shoulders looked out of place and this troubled Reid, given that the murder victims had all been strangled. The man eyed all the coffee shop patrons before approaching Reid.

"Fourth Doctor?" Oster asked quietly as he accepted the coffee from Reid, who nodded acknowledgement of the question.

He looked Reid up and down and asked, "Got a favourite? You look kinda like the tenth Doctor."

Reid nodded, acknowledged the similarity between himself and the Tenth Doctor but shrugged and as off-handedly as he could, said, "I guess I do. But the fourth's my favourite." He sipped at his coffee.

Oster slurped his own for a moment. He turned his arm over and Reid took note of the multiple tattoos covering it as well as the track marks. Oster was an addict, he realised. The roadie brushed a finger along one of his tattoos—a likeness of _Science Affliction's_ logo and then asked, "Got a favourite song of theirs?"

Inwardly, Reid silently thanked Garcia for her detailed research into the group's persona and musical catalogue and replied, "Yeah, _Physical Magic._ Really like the guitar solo in the bridge." He hoped he sounded knowledgeable and legit and watched for Oster's reaction.

"Yeah, that's a good cut. The guitarist, Matthews, really kills that riff." Oster lowered his voice. "You bring the money?"

Reid nodded, patted his front pocket and tilted his head closer to Oster's. "Can we uh, do this outside?" He hoped to minimise the risk to the safety of the coffee shop's innocent patrons. Reid expected opposition to this from Oster and had to hide his surprise at the immediate accordance from the unsub.

"Yeah, man," Baltazar agreed. They stepped outside with their coffees and once out on the sidewalk, he tapped Reid's arm, "Vid's on my tablet. In my car just up the road here." He took Reid's arm and started walking up the street, making it look very much like a friendly hold of Reid's arm. Reid didn't react and played along as they walked up the street.

Behind them, keeping a discreet distance, David Rossi followed the two men up the street. Lewis stood in front of a florist shop, watering the plants that lined the sidewalk. Rossi passed her and they nodded to each other. Another twenty feet up the street, Oster turned onto a side street, Reid followed, keeping Oster occupied with questions and comments.

"I can't wait to hear _Physical Magic_ live. It must be just awesome in that setting," he said.

They cut across the street into an alley where a dark green van was parked. Rossi walked right past them, making it appear he was continuing up the street. As soon as he was out of view, he spoke into his wire discreetly.

Oster unlocked the passenger side door of the van and opened it. Reid stood in front of the door, standing calmly and as nonchalantly as he possibly could. He watched as Oster reached under the seat for his tablet. Clicking it on, he backed out of the van and stood up.

"Got your device handy?"

Reid's hand went into his pocket to retrieve the decoy phone the LA police had provided him and clicked it on. His eyes never left Oster.

"And the money?"

Reid set the phone down on the hood of the car and stuck his hand back into his pocket to produce the envelope of cash. Again, he kept his eyes trained on Oster the entire time and was ready when Oster made his move.

The roadie stepped away from the van, past the open door. He flung his almost full coffee at Reid's head but the young profiler reacted quickly. Blocking the hot liquid with one arm, he threw his own drink back in Oster's direction. It hit the window of the van and flew everywhere, splashing Oster directly in the face.

Bellowing in pain, he lunged at Reid, grabbing at the profiler and body slamming him against the side of the van.

Out on the street, Rossi was giving Lewis and Alvez an update on the situation. He directed the local police and JJ to block the alleyway and the side street should Oster manage to get Reid into the van and try to escape.

Lewis and Alvez were now running to join Rossi and just as they reached the alleyway, JJ's SUV squealed around the corner and pulled across the roadway to block it off from the west side. Seconds later, an LA cruiser did the same from the east.

Reid was embroiled in a struggle with Oster who was now trying to wrap his scarf around Reid's neck. Winded from being slammed against the van, Reid was fighting hard against Oster's attempts to strangle him and dropped to his knees. The scarf fell to the ground. Oster tried shoving him into the vehicle but Reid resisted, pushing back with his all his might.

As they fought, Oster's hand went into a pocket and reappeared holding a length of wire. Reid regained his feet and anchored himself against the car trying to keep Oster's beefy hands from his neck. Once again, the roadie slammed Reid against the car's open door. The agent's body went slack and he slid to the ground, momentarily stunned.

His mind registered that Oster was putting the wire around his neck. Deep in his brain a memory of promising Penelope he'd be careful, that he'd never get hurt at work again surfaced. He drew strength from the image of her face imploring him to always be safe, to come home to her. Even semi-conscious, Reid managed with herculean effort to give Oster an almighty shove. The roadie fell hard against the van's open door frame and crumpled to the ground unconscious.

Reid heaved a sigh of relief just as his own world went black and he slumped over.

The fleet SUV driven by Unit Chief Prentiss came barreling down the alleyway behind the van, blocking its last possible avenue for escape. Prentiss brought the Suburban to an abrupt stop, threw it into park and hastily raced to the crime scene. Rossi and Lewis arrived at virtually the same moment and all immediately went into action.

Rossi secured the unsub. Oster was beginning to come around and the unit's senior agent quickly handcuffed his hands behind his back. Lewis collected and bagged the evidence: wire, coffee cups, scarf were all gathered and labeled. JJ arrived with the medics who immediately saw to both Oster and Reid. Oster was complaining of police brutality and wrongful arrest as he was hustled into the waiting ambulance. Reid was bleeding from a cut to the temple but seemed otherwise okay, attempting to wave off the paramedic attending to him.

"Is everybody okay?" he wanted to know, calling out to Prentiss.

"We're all fine, Reid. And stop being stubborn, you're gonna hafta go to the hospital to be checked out," she responded in her best Unit Chief voice.

"This way, please," the paramedic directed Reid into the back of the ambulance.

"I'll follow in the SUV," JJ relayed to Prentiss, who nodded acknowledgement.

"Meet you both back at the station later," she replied.

The Los Angeles police arrived to take over the investigation as Prentiss stepped away from the group to send a text message to the anxiously waiting tech analyst back in Quantico.

_Got him! And Reid is safe. He did a great job thanks to you!_

Back at the BAU office in Virginia, a small sandy coloured teddy bear was getting squeezed again. Penelope's breathing was beginning to return to normal.

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"Yeah, people do crazy things when they have serious problems," Prentiss acknowledged as the team decompressed and relaxed in their jet on the way back to DC. She was sitting next to Rossi who was enjoying his customary glass of Scotch. Across from Rossi, JJ was texting on her phone while simultaneously participating in the conversation. Beside her, Luke Alvez was writing up his report on his tablet, while also listening in on the discussion.

"Heroin does terrible things," JJ said sadly.

Alvez shook his head, "Preying on the fans with his connections, and then killing them. I just—" he trailed off. "I don't understand why he killed them. I mean he _got_ their money."

"Spence said he overheard Oster tell the local LE that he didn't wanna leave any witnesses," JJ told them, shaking her head in disbelief.

Lewis sat in one of the seats across the tiny aisle from the others and put in, "When you're an addict, and you're desperate for a fix, you do desperate things."

"I'm just glad we put a stop to it," Prentiss intoned.

"Amen to that," Rossi toasted them as he sipped from his drink.

"Unfortunately, he's just one. There will be many more."

There were several murmurs of agreements and vows to catch more of them. JJ looked past Rossi to the long seat at the front of the jet where Reid was currently stretched out and sleeping. A tiny smile grew at the corners of her mouth. He, better than any of them, knew what drug addiction was like; having battled one forced upon him years ago. And yet, despite his history, he'd shown Evan Oster more compassion than JJ or any of the others was willing to muster. Oster was still facing multiple murder charges but Reid had helped to ensure that the young man would be afforded substance abuse therapy while incarcerated. JJ's smile widened and she returned her attention to her smartphone.

_We'll be landing in about an hour PG._

_Thank you! I'll be waiting! XOXO_

JJ smiled again and then settled in to nap, as the conversation aboard the jet seemed to have waned. Rossi was engrossed in his Scotch, his mind obviously miles away. Alvez had put away his tablet and Prentiss was leaning back in her seat with her eyes shut.

Ninety minutes later, six weary agents debarked the elevator on the sixth floor. Garcia greeted them each warmly with a hug. It was just after six p.m. and Rossi extended his usual invitation to a post-case drink at O'Keefe's. Lewis, Prentiss and Alvez were eager to join him. JJ begged off.

"I hope you don't mind, guys, but I'm gonna pass. I wanna get home to my boys. All three of them," she laughed.

"Oh, that's right!" Garcia remembered. "The petting zoo tomorrow, right?"

The tiny blonde nodded, putting files away in her desk and then giving the analyst a hug. "See you all on Monday!" she said as she headed for the elevator.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up in a few, I just need to send off an expense report," Prentiss waved off Rossi, Lewis and Alvez. The trio said their goodnights and left.

Prentiss turned to Garcia and Reid, "Enjoy your weekend too, guys," she smiled knowingly as she climbed up the steps to her office.

Reid followed Garcia into her office. As soon as the door closed behind him, Garcia turned and grabbed him, gathering him tightly in her arms. They kissed passionately; Garcia's tongue pushing its way into his mouth to explore and let him know just how much she missed him. He felt the now familiar wave of arousal surge through him and tightened his hold on her in response. After a few minutes of uninterrupted ardour, Garcia stepped back from their embrace and traced the _Band-Aid_ on his temple with one finger.

"S'okay," he promised her. "I came into unwanted contact with a car door," he offered by way of explanation. "You should see the other guy!"

She gave him a look.

"Honest, Pen. I'm okay. And I have you to thank for that." Now he stepped back from their hug and took her hands in his, "He was actually getting the better of me, but I remembered. I remembered my promise to you and you were there with me. It gave me the strength to fight back."

She reached up to kiss his temple.

"I love you," she whispered.

"And I love you, too," he whispered back, kissing her in return.

"So," he started.

"So," she echoed.

"Can we go home now?"

A smile crossed her face, "Yes indeed. Yes, we can." Hurriedly, she shut down all the computers in the office, grabbed her purse and dropped all her phones into it. Taking FuzzyBareIntimate from his spot by one monitor, she added him to the purse and then opened the office door. Reid clicked the light switch, plunging the office into darkness and they stepped out together, letting the door shut behind them.

Half an hour later, Garcia parked Esther in her apartment complex parking lot and Reid hurried from the passenger seat around to the driver's side to open the door for her. Holding hands, they walked upstairs together to Garcia's apartment. As soon as the door shut behind them, Garcia repeated her actions from earlier in her office. This time, in addition to being hugged and kissed, Reid was also quickly divested of most of his clothes. He returned the favour, holding Garcia in one arm as he unzipped her dress with the other, letting the garment fall to the floor and join the growing pile that already included his jacket, sweater vest and shirt.

They stumbled towards the bedroom; Garcia's shoes were kicked off in the process. Standing at the foot of her bed, they stopped to kiss hungrily again for a long moment before Garcia took a step backward and pushed Reid down onto the bed. He landed flat on his back with a thump, and she threw herself down next to him. Spencer brought one arm up around Penelope's waist as she pulled herself up, sitting back on her heels. Laughing, her attention went to his waist. Her hands moved to undo the belt and the zipper of his trousers. He lay still as she worked, arching his hips to help her as she drew the pants from his body.

As she turned to toss the trousers to the chair beside the bed, she felt Spencer's hands at her back, working to unclasp her bra. Mission accomplished seconds later, the garment fell to the mattress and Penelope leaned back down, lying next to him. They kissed and touched, snuggled against each other.

He reached across her to switch off the lamp and then they turned to each other, awash in their mutual love.

Garcia awakened to the sound of knocking on her door.

"What the—" she muttered under her breath. The alarm clock on the night table showed two fourteen a.m.

Carefully, she moved from under Spencer's arm, not wanting to disturb him. Fumbling in the dark, she found her glasses and put them on. She grabbed her dressing gown, laying over the back of the chair and hastily shrugged her way into it while stumbling in the dark towards her door. The knocking was persistent, and if Garcia didn't know better, sounded desperate. She wondered how the person got into the building in the first place and peeked through the peephole.

 _It's JJ,_ she thought. Quickly, she unlocked the door and opened it.

"JJ! Is something wrong?!"

"Oh, Pen! I'm sorry to bug you this late at night."

Grabbing JJ by the arm, Penelope pulled her into the apartment. "Is it one of the kids? Is someone sick?"

"No, Pen. It's, um, Reid. I, uh, stopped here first because you're on the way to Emily's."

Garcia's brow furrowed.

"He's _missing_ , Pen!"

"What?"

"I picked up his keys on the floor of the jet. Forgot about it at the time, but I realised it when I got home and emptied my pockets."

Garcia stared at her wordlessly.

"Anyway, I figured I'd drive out to his place and probably meet him there, right? He'd need them to get in!"

Penelope didn't bother pointing out that Reid could've just gone to his landlord to be let in.

"But I got to his apartment and there was no sign of him. No answer when I knocked at the door. So I let myself in and well, he wasn't there. No sign that he had even been home."

Penelope took a deep breath, but just as she was about to speak, they both heard footsteps coming from behind her. Reid padded out into the front hallway wearing just his pajama bottoms and rubbing at his eyes.

There were three simultaneous sharp breaths.

"Oh my God," her eyes huge, JJ breathed in unison with Penelope's "He's not missing."

"Pen? Is something wrong?" Spencer asked sleepily.

"Nope, not at all, everything's good," JJ asserted, stepping back out of the doorway. "And I was _not_ here tonight."

Spencer slipped an arm around Penelope and kissed her forehead. "Coming back to bed, Sweetheart?"

"In a minute, My Boy Wonder," she responded. Patting his butt affectionately, she directed, "Go on back to bed, I'll be right there."

"I am so sorry," JJ started.

"You weren't here tonight," Penelope reminded.

"Right!" She turned to leave and stopped. After dropping Reid's keys into Garcia's open hand, JJ turned back towards the door.

"Um, JJ?"

"Let us tell the others, okay?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Pen," she promised with a smile. "But I can't wait until Monday!"

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" _Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage._ "— **Lao Tzu**

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